Mamagama Maternity

Introduce your business and tell us your story: How did you decide on what to sell, and how did you source your products?

I used to work in advertising as an art director. My team partner and I would brainstorm pretty much every day in a small cafeteria nearby the office. And every day we would have to stare at this small maternity shop from across the street. "This is the saddest shop ever" I remember saying. To which my team partner replied: "It shouldn't be sad, it's a maternity store! We laugh. But later on I was actually thinking: why not make the coolest and happiest maternity shop in the world. And so I did!

It took me about 2 years to get to a good supplier. I did not have so much time on my hands because of my job, so I started to search for a textile factory online. I ended up being robbed on Alibaba. After this incident, I decided to take few months off in the search of a new factory. I started to import the fabric from Estonia and produce my t-shirts in Romania. The production costs were all together rather big and the whole production scheme too complicated. Things were not going so well. Not long after I got a new job in another advertising office, this time based in Hong Kong, so I relocated. While in Hong Kong I found a great factory that finally met my quality expectations. I immediately set up Mamagama headquarters there. It was a major step for me and I was finally happy to start and sell online.

How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?

Someone pinned one Mamagama photo on Pinterest and I started to get a lot of traffic. I looked it up and had more than 4000 re-pins on one single photo! The pinner had around 3 mil followers and just happened to like my photo. It felt like Christmas, really. In the same time the blogger from Pregnant Chicken wrote something about Mamagama and boom! I was in business. Pinterest, Instagram, and Google generate the most traffic and sales.

Tell us about the back-end of your business. What tools and apps do you use to run your store? How do you handle shipping and fulfillment?

Notify shows recent sales. Very useful, it shows that the shop is active and receiving sales.

Exit Offers offers customers a discount if they shop in the next 10min. Amazing, works so well!

What are your top recommendations for new store owners?

Think of an idea and make it happen - do not share it with anyone until you're ready. Take nice product photos. Pay if needed. Find a good reliable supplier. Ask for help from friends. Help them back:) Let your mom do your finance. Don't work alone at home. Work with fun people. Enjoy.